I have already discussed Edward Lear’s Irish sources here, here and here. Another fine instance is the parody in four pictures that Lear drew of Thomas Moore’s “Rich and rare were the gems she wore” from the first volume of Moore’s Irish Melodies (1807):

RICH and rare were the gems she wore,
And a bright gold ring on her wand she bore;
But, O, her beauty was far beyond
Her sparkling gems or snow-white wand.

“Lady! dost thou not fear to stray,
So lone and lovely, through this bleak way?
Are Erin’s sons so good or so cold
As not to be tempted by woman or gold?”

“Sir Knight! I feel not the least alarm,
No son of Erin will offer me harm;
For though they love woman and golden store,
Sir Knight! they love honor and virtue more!”

On she went, and her maiden smile
In safety lighted her round the green isle;
And blest forever is she who relied
Upon Erin’s honor and Erin’s pride!

What makes these illustrations (from Lear in the Original pp. 169-173) particularly interesting is that they are clearly no more than an expansion of a caricature by Thomas Hood and show that much of Lear’s early work was inspired by his punning humourous work; here is Hood’s illustration for the poem from his Whims and Oddities, in Prose and Verse (London: Lupton Relfe, 1826), facing page 13:

This was first noted by Michael Heyman, Isles of Boshen: Edward Lear’s Literary Nonsense in Context (Thesis submitted for the Degree of PhD, University of Glasgow, Faculty of Arts, Department of English Literature, 1999), pp. 32-33.

Edward Lear arrived at Abu Simbel on 8th February 1867 on his 2nd tour of Egypt. This view is of the large Temple of Abu Simbel on the left and to the right the Facade of the small temple dedicated to Nefertari with Lake Nasser in the foreground

Lear left Cairo after Christmas 1853 with a large party of English, some twelve boats in all. They travelled up the Nile at a leisurely pace, dropping anchor every night. They started their return journey from Philae on February 8th, 1854 (see Edward Lear, Vivian Noakes, London 1985, p.97)

The following text is from the label for the display at the British Museum ‘Watercolours and Drawings by Edward Lear: a Bicentennial Celebration’:
In 1842 Lear made a tour of the Abruzzi, a region of central Italy, with his friend Charles Knight. Knight had given Lear riding lessons ‘round the walls of Rome’, and lent the artist one of his horses for the journey. In these drawings the artist makes fun of his poor horsemanship, with typical self-deprecating humour. They are part of a larger series that records the pair’s adventures in comic form.

The Museum’s acquisition note adds:

This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era. From an album from the Hornby family sold at Christie’s, and subsequently broken up. The Department purchased 21 drawings.

So the missing pictures were perhaps still around in the 1930s and 1940s and may be in a private collection. This would have probably been the longest of Edward Lear’s picture stories recording a journey, though rather than on the journey, it concentrates on Lear’s own misadventures while learning to ride. The picture story has first been published in full in The Complete Verse and Other Nonsense, edited by Vivien Noakes, pp. 63-70; also see the note at pp. 479-480.